Anyone But Harper Means Trouble for the Bloc

The Bloc Quebecois, founded after the collapse of Meech in 1990, has since then been the Québécois political party that represented the refusal of Canada at the federal level. This refusal took shape in 1982 through Pierre Elliott Trudeau and his federal deputies, who sacrificed the concept of a Québécois nation and founding people, in favor of a status as simply another ethnic minority in Canada.

This status as a minority was maintained and reinforced through the defeat of the Lake Meech Accord by the Canadian provinces, at the insistent invitation of Pierre Elliott Trudeau and Jean Chrétien. Chrétien later greeted Newfoundland premier Clyde Wells with a kiss, for his excellent work as a saboteur.

Recalling these facts has become tedious and sad, because our Québécois federalists, such as Philippe Couillard, increasingly accept this vision of Canada and are no longer calling for any fundamental change in Quebec's status, preferring to stick to "real" provincial affairs.

The current election campaign shows to what extent the defense of both pre- and post-1982 Canada is on the table. Jean Chrétien himself suddenly reappeared, saying that he is ashamed of Stephen Harper, who, over the course of nearly ten years, has seriously tarnished Canada's reputation in the world, which gives a boost to the Liberal, NDP, Green parties, all of whom are chanting the same slogan: we must get rid of Harper.

In a strange way, the sovereignists, too, share in this shame over Harper's Canada and want to react against it. As a result, they have decided to support the NDP instead of the Bloc, if the latest polls are any indication. And there's the rub, because that support seems completely illogical, and provides federalists with a potential political trap they will quickly spring against sovereignists.

If the sovereignist vote for the NDP translates into a loss for Gilles Duceppe and the Bloc Québécois, we'll end up with only federalist parties and MPs in Ottawa. What a beautiful victory that would be for federalism and 1982 Canada. It will then be easy to conclude that with the demise of the Bloc, the Québécois are ready to accept Canada in its current form on Oct. 19, whether Trudeau's, Mulcair's, or even Harper's.

What's more, if that were to happen, our Québécois federalists will be celebrating and will want to believe, and especially make people believe, that it's also the end of the road for the Parti Québécois and the sovereignist project.

But while that is one scenario, another one would be, like young people would say, there are "too many federalists" and there is "too much love for Canada." If such a thing were to happen, it could also mean that the sovereignist project takes on a whole new dimension. For example, that the sovereignists (40 per cent) concentrate their energies exclusively on desiring a country for Quebec and think creatively about ways to get there, Especially since, following the election results, with the Bloc eliminated, there will no longer be time or energy to waste on refusing 1982 Canada, or even wishing it was better.